Story Eleven: Nothing Holds
by SpelCastrMax
Summary: Mozenrath's plans for Agrabah and Aladdin's kids begin to come to light.


STORY ELEVEN: Nothing Holds  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em and you know it.  
  
Author's Note: From here I'm posting these as chapters, KAY!!!! Also, this story is mostly Celeste, but don't fret! Story 12 will get back to Aladdin and his family.  
  
Story 10 Mozenrath is revealed to us as the "bad guy" behind everything and takes Celeste.  
  
Useless Trivia: The title is based off a line in "Home" - a song from the "Beauty and the Beast" Broadway show, but this isn't a songfic.  
  
Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie came home with the gauntlet in hand, locked safely in the small chest. The palace was clean of Mamluks and Black Sand. However, when they opened the door to the storage room only their own children and the animals sat waiting. The sleeping Celeste had completely vanished.  
  
Kalil told them about a nightmare he'd had in which he met Mozenrath who, with the help of I. M. Aghoul, sent Celeste through a portal.  
  
When the prince started to apologize for not being able to save the day, his father cut him off. "You did your best. Now I don't want you kids anywhere near Mozenrath."  
  
Jasmine suggested, "Maybe we should send them to Greece for a little while..."  
  
Mira jumped up. "You can't just leave us behind! Celeste is our friend and we're going to find her!"  
  
Genie set a hand on the chest taking the form of a pirate. "Argh! We must bury the treasure and find the wench!"  
  
"No Genie, we better keep that gauntlet close," Aladdin replied, "Mozenrath may want a trade." He turned to his two teenagers, remembering the children they once were. They used to stare up at him trustingly with their large brown eyes. They used to think he could solve any problem. Now they were grown and their eyes were nothing but determined. Aladdin sighed, "Where should we start looking?"  
  
*************************  
  
Celeste rolled over and squeezed her arms across her body. She refused to open her eyes. In her mind, she was reasoning why she was laying on the floor. She probably was in the garden and slipped on some water. That had to be it. She could feel the Agrabah sun beating down on her face and believed she heard her pet, Peeve, panting over her about to ask one of his annoying questions.  
  
Laying quite still, she waited for someone to notice that she had fallen. Celetse expected Aladdin to help her up, Genie and Jasmine to fuss over her while Mira noted that she had gotten dirt on her clothes. Then Abu would give her a sympathetic pat as Carpet could offer her a place to sit. Iago would next perch on her shoulder, then glare at Kal who'd be trying to act cool by standing off to the side. Eventually, the prince's true concern would shine through and he'd insist that Celeste go rest in her room.  
  
None of that happened though. Instead, a plump hand roughly shook her. "Kid, get up before someone runs you over," a familiar voice ordered, "My house and I say no sleeping on the floor."  
  
Celeste knew the voice was Abis Mal. He had kidnapped her once before. That meant she was still in the time she wanted to be in. Her head jumped up and she faced the balding, stout man. Her heart sunk.  
  
It was indeed a man who was the spitting image of Abis Mal, but he wore khaki slacks with an elastic waistband. His shirt was a ketchup stained, blue polo that, tucked in, embellished his round belly. On his head was an ordinary, everyday red ball cap.  
  
"Uncle?" she asked in an ill tone.  
  
His whole face twitched as he replied, "Who'd you think I was?"  
  
A woman also entered. She had a bright orange hair cascading down her back. She wore a similar colored bathing suit and had a wrap tied about her waist that was a more yellowy color. A pair of orange sunglasses crowned her head and a trail of water followed her steps. All clues that she had just come from a pool.  
  
"I know you," Celeste breathed, "Aladdin and Jasmine told me a story about you. You're the sea elemental Selene."  
  
The woman scoffed, "Sea elemental? You hit your head again didn't you."  
  
"You mean, you're not Selene?" she asked almost disappointed.  
  
"I'm your Aunt Selene, yes."  
  
"My aunt?" Celeste, realizing her memory still wasn't back, looked at where she was. It was a little house, boring and ordinary. The sparse furniture was dull neutral colors and the photographs hung on the wall were of the aunt and uncle looking unhappy. She was back. For a moment, Celeste felt like she couldn't breathe; like the house was suffocating her. Her aunt and uncle took no notice of her distress. "Where are my parents?" she managed to ask.  
  
"We were going to take you to meet them, but there was a change in plans," her uncle stated, "I guess they didn't feel like taking care of someone who spends all day sleeping."  
  
Celeste glared at him, then moved her hand to support herself as she stood. She felt a thick book sitting nearby and the cover read in sparkling letters "1001 Arabian Nights". The girl thought she would cry. "It had all been a dream."  
  
*************  
  
"Kal! Maybe if you go to sleep again you can dream where Celeste is," Mira suggested excitedly as if she had stumbled across the answer.  
  
Her brother shook his head sadly. "I don't think so."  
  
An odd creature of fur and scales flew into the palace from the garden. His dog-like head was panting loudly, "Where's Celeste?"  
  
Kalil pat the thing behind the ear. "She's gone, Peeve. We're going to go look for her."  
  
Peeve began to whimper, "Can I go? Huh? Huh? Huh? Oh, why can't I go?!"  
  
Iago glanced at Abu and in an irate tone asked, "Would it be too mean to tell him why?"  
  
Genie, who had been rummaging around in his lamp for the last hour, popped out with a shout. "I found the map to Morbia!"  
  
Aladdin entered with a pack on his back. "Then, let's go!"  
  
The royal family boarded Carpet and the animals stayed behind to look after the palace. They rode off with Genie floating close behind. Their home became a dot in the distance and none of them knew what was to come in their absence.  
  
*************************  
  
Celeste kept whispering to herself, "I'm home now. I'm home now. I'm home now." It was a good way to drown out her uncle and aunt arguing in the other room.  
  
It wasn't until they were quiet that she stopped her chanting. Their voices were hushed and, despite the lessons she had learned previously about eavesdropping, Celeste leaned her ear against the door. She managed to push it open slightly for a peek.  
  
Her aunt was the first one talking. "Are we done with the girl?"  
  
The pair was talking to a floating window surrounded by smoke. Mozenrath's face spoke to them with annoyance. "There's no more use for her," the sorcerer told them coldly, "Drown her if you want. Just come back to Agrabah as soon as you can. The spell will wear off soon and you two morons could be trapped in the future."  
  
Celeste's uncle was staring at his hands. "Um...can I bring the television with me..."  
  
Selene rolled her eyes. "Humans and their material needs," she scoffed. In return, the stout man ran his hand through her hair messing it up. She gasped and attacked him.  
  
"Enough!" Mozenrath bellowed, "You're going to ruin everything. Now pay attention. You two imbeciles will come back here and take your posts. Aladdin and his family coming home from a dead end in Morbia right now. When they are in Agrabah, Abis Mal will take the daughter, Selene you get his precious Jasmine, Mekanakles has the son, Mirage can handle the Genie, and I'll take care of Aladdin."  
  
Abis Mal (Celeste's uncle) whined, "Why don't I get to attack Aladdin?!"  
  
"Because it's my plan!"  
  
The spineless man gulped, yet continued to ask questions. "Why can't we just go back to before Aladdin was born and..."  
  
"I've told you before, you fool. The small amount of Time Sand you found can only create a portal to two different years; the future world you are currently in and the year of Aladdin and Jasmine's son being seventeen! (AN: The Time Sand is a plot element from an Abis Mal Episode of the TV Series where he went back in time and made his own ancestor Sultan instead of Jasmine's family) Now come back here before I show you what the Black Sands can do to you!"  
  
The window faded. Abis Mal turned with a pout as he took an hourglass from his pocket. "No more television." Then he saw Celeste lurking in the door. "What have we here?" he grumbled.  
  
Celeste wanted to shout the obvious, state that these two weren't her relatives and that they would never take her to her parents. Instead, she made a grab for the hourglass in Abis Mal's hand.  
  
"Hey! That's mine!" he protested as she ran out to the backyard. She avoided the diving sized pool and headed to the side where a gate was rusting into the wall. As she made her escape, the girl continually turned the time piece over trying to make it work.  
  
Selene caught Celeste by the arm. "You surface girls never know when you're beaten."  
  
Abis Mal took back the hourglass and possessively cradled it in his arms.  
  
They had her cornered between the broken gate and side of the house. She thought about ways to squeeze between them or bust down the splintering wooden gate. It was then that the smoke framed window appeared once again, this time directly behind the two villains.  
  
Mozenrath's face peered out of the portal. "What is taking so long?" he barked, "I thought I told you..." It was then that he took note of the girl's shocked expression and he knew she was trying to put the pieces together in her head. "Awe Celeste. I bet you want to know what's going on. Wondering where your family is?"  
  
"My family is in Agrabah," she firmly argued, "What I want to know is what you're planning!"  
  
The sorcerer only frowned and muttered, "Someone take care of her."  
  
Selene grasped a clump of Celeste's hair and tossed her into the pool. At first, Celeste held her breath with her cheeks puffed out while she tried to break through an invisible shield keeping her in the water.  
  
The elemental rolled her eyes. "You look like a blowfish. It's enchanted water, you twit. You don't have to hold your breath." (Useless trivia: A twit is a name for a pregnant goldfish)  
  
Celeste took a chance and exhaled. She was breathing fine. Her fists beat against the spell keeping her in the pool. All the while she shouted in protest, but Abis Mal and Selene just told her to be quiet. Mozenrath was once again gone.  
  
The little man broke open the lid of the hourglass and tipped what little sand was within out. A bright green light and the image of Agrabah appeared. Selene and Abis Mal left a second later.  
  
At first, Celeste screamed louder. After a time, she grew tired and floated to the bottom of the pool where she built little forts out of gravel. She thought about everyone in Agrabah and wished she could warn them about Mozenrath.  
  
An hour passed. Celeste's fingers wrinkled from the water, but she didn't notice. Overhead the world outside of the pool was changing. The boring suburban house was replaced by a metal giant shaped like a beetle. She knew it had to be a modern take on one of the Mekanikles creations she had heard Aladdin talk of. But what was it doing in the future?  
  
She swam back to the top of the pool for a better look. The shield was gone now and she was at last able to climb out. Just as Celeste was free the pool faded as if it were swallowed by the earth. The entire yard was different. There was no longer a fence with a rusted gate. Celeste could see a stretch of tiny houses in a long field. There were cat statues in the yards of some homes, like the statues Celeste had seen in Morbia.  
  
"What happened?" Celeste thought out loud as she searched for signs of happy life.  
  
"History was changed," a voice told her calmly.  
  
Spinning about, Celeste came face to face with the elderly man who wore the strip of gray cloth across his eyes. "Oh, it's you," she rudely commented, "No offense but every time I see you, you give me some kind of annoying riddle and don't help at all."  
  
The blind man only gave a little grin and took one step to the left. With this movement, Celeste had a perfect view of a blue man hunched over a meager fire mumbling about semi-phenomenal nearly cosmic powers.  
  
The girl felt her soaked body warm a little and a pure smile spread across her face. She jumped up and gave the mysterious blind man a kiss on the cheek before running to the familiar blue form. "Genie!" she squealed like a schoolgirl as she flung her arms about his neck, "I knew someone would find me...even in the future. Oh! We have to get back to Agrabah! Mozenrath..."  
  
Although clearly happy to see her, the older looking Genie solemnly peeled Celeste off of him. "There isn't any Agrabah anymore. Mozenrath and the others destroyed it hundreds of years ago."  
  
The girl's jaw fell. "No. You were all always ready for an attack."  
  
Genie shrugged. He made no jokes and his color had grayed over the years. "We out looking for you."  
  
It was then that Celeste made a realization. "That's why Mozenrath brought me there in the first place. He wanted you all to grow attached to me then when kidnapped me again you wouldn't be ready for him to...I was easier to take than Kal or Mira...Genie, there has to be a way to go back and fix it all."  
  
However, Genie's mental capacity, which as we all know was never that swell to begin with, was completely shot. He'd mumble a little then go into some celebrity voice. Celeste realized that he had completely blocked out most of the battle's events. He had been wandering around for the last thousand years trying to forget. One thing he did make clear was that when Mozenrath took power he eventually gained followers across the world. He was still alive someplace - an insane immortal sorcerer huddled in a shadow somewhere. Meanwhile small factions worshiped Mirage and there were copy cat engineers following Mekankles's work.  
  
Celeste was about to give up on asking him questions when he reached into his sash to retrieve his lamp. "I stole something from Mirage for you." He rummaged through the endless inside of the tin object, pulling out the various comical knickknacks that Celeste found herself happy to see. Finally, he produced three rocks.  
  
"The Times Stones of Iretant," Celeste said with new hope, "So we're going back?"  
  
Genie scoffed. "Correction. You're going back. I can't go. What if I run into myself? Time travel is confusing enough without stuff like that happening. I could blink out of existence!"  
  
The girl nodded in understanding. She rushed through a goodbye and didn't waste anymore time. She squeezed the first stone and concentrated on being back in Agrabah.  
  
__________________  
  
WATCH FOR STORY 12: Time to Spare  
  
While trying to fix history, Celeste goes too far back in time and ends up running into younger versions of Aladdin and Jasmine.  
  
AUTHOR'S RANTING: Okay, first of all remember that I'm posting the next couple of stories as chapters to this one and secondly I PASSED MATH!!!!! Sorry, but that's a big thing for me. 


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